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India – Female IT workers paid a third less

24 July 2014

The gender pay gap in India’s IT industry is as high as +29%, according to the Monster Salary Index India IT Sector Report 2014 from job board Monster India, reports The Hindu Business Line.

The study found that male IT workers received, on average, a gross salary of INR 359.25 (USD 5.99) an hour while a female worker received INR 254.04 (USD 4.23) an hour.

This disparity possibly emerges from the fact that men get promoted to a supervisory position more often than women, the report noted.

Sanjay Modi, Managing Director, Monster.com for India, the Middle East, South-East Asia, and Hong Kong, said the revelation is startling in an industry that employs 30% women: “It is surprising to see that the most modern sector in India is not only predisposed to a certain gender but is also paying less (sic) to women employees than their male counterparts.”

According to the report, one factor negatively impacting the earning potential of female workers is employment tenure. As women have only recently started working in the IT sector their pay is lower than their male counterparts who have worked in the industry for longer.

Also, as a result of family obligations, and with more career breaks in their job history, the negotiating capacity of women in the labour market is lower than for men.

In an interesting twist, however, the report found that women employed on temporary or fixed term contracts are better paid than those with permanent contracts.